Category: garden furniture

Are you sitting comfortably? Part 10 in a very occasional series.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date June 25, 2016
2 Comments on Are you sitting comfortably? Part 10 in a very occasional series.

Here we are back with another selection of garden seats that we have discovered on our visits to two gardens last weekend, one small village garden and a larger garden attached to a nursery. Whatever size your garden is it deserves seats and so do the gardeners. A good gardener chooses seats that fit in where the gardener chooses to place them. Sometimes they simply look good as a point of interest but the best ones provide great places to sit and admire the patch.

This first batch of pics were taken in a Shropshire NGS garden called Ancoirean a small village garden with a big heart.

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A short twenty minute drive away is Ashwood Nurseries where the owner John Massey has developed his own private garden alongside. We were priveleged to be shown around by John and he shared his ideas behind hid creation and explained what it all meant to him. A great couple of hours – inspirational!

The next post in this very occasional series could take us anywhere! Only time will tell. It will definitely be to a selection of beautiful seats in beautiful gardens!

Tags garden features, garden furniture, garden seating, garden seats

garden design garden furniture gardening gardens gardens open to the public

Garden Entrances and Archways – No 2 in a very occasional series.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date April 1, 2016
1 Comment on Garden Entrances and Archways – No 2 in a very occasional series.

Here we are with another selection of interesting and unusual entrances and archways that we have discovered while exploring gardens.

In this collection of entrances and archways we concentrate on those we found on a February visit to some gardens of Devon. Arches, inviting pathways, pergolas, gaps in hedges and walls, bridges and even an underpass all entice us onward or present us with choices as we explored these Devon gardens.

Tags bridges, Devon, garden features, garden paths, garden walls, Gardens of Devon, RHS, RHS gardens, RHS Rosemoor, Stone Lane Gardens

garden design garden furniture garden photography garden seating gardening gardens gardens open to the public outdoor sculpture RHS sculpture

Sculpture at RHS Rosemoor Garden

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date February 21, 2016
3 Comments on Sculpture at RHS Rosemoor Garden

We love seeing sculpture outdoors whether in wild landscapes such as the “Sheep Enclosures” by Andy Goldsworthy, on the shore such as Anthony Gormley’s “Another Place” or in gardens. When we visited the RHS gardens at Rosemoor in Devon we spent two days exploring the gardens as there was the added interest of an exhibition of sculpture. This first of three posts from Rosemoor will concern those sculptural pieces.

I hope you enjoy my photos of a selection of those I particularly liked.

Birds of all sorts always make good subjects for sculptures both meant for indoors or out but I think they look best in the garden setting.

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Naturally plants work well as subjects for garden works of art too, in fact maybe the most natural subject of all.

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The beauty of simple pot shapes appear enhanced by the beauty of the garden.

Sometimes the simplest of forms in sculptural form can bring the structure of plants and parts of plants to mind. Mother Nature herself often creates her own simple sculptural forms.

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An element of fun in any garden is sculptural seating. Those that work as somewhere to rest your weary legs are even more welcome in a garden of several acres.

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This most appealing of benches attracted everyone who spotted it – it demanded a closer look. When we looked at it close up we found that its two ends were both owls, one seated and one coming in to land.

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The human form has throughout history provided inspiration to sculpture.

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This beautiful trio of figures created from metal, entitled “The Three Graces”, stood within a circle of box hedging surrounding box spheres.

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To complete my selection of sculptural pieces here are three pieces displaying simplicity and beauty. This wonderful collection made our wanderings around the gardens at Rosemoor even more worthwhile.

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Tags Devon, garden furniture, garden sculpture, garden seating, Gardens of Devon, natural sculpture, outdoor sculpture, RHS, RHS gardens, RHS Rosemoor, sculpture, The Royal Horticultural Society

garden design garden furniture garden photography garden seating

Are you sitting comfortably? Part 8 of an occasional series.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date February 8, 2016
3 Comments on Are you sitting comfortably? Part 8 of an occasional series.

Here we are back with yet another post in this very occasional series all about garden seating. For parts 8 and 9 we will share with you a collection of seats we found while spending a few days in Devon.

The first set of seats are to be found in the woodland garden of the Stone Farm Cottage Garden and Nursery. This garden boasts the National Collections of Betulas (Birches) and Alnus (Alders). We will look at these trees in a future post.

In the next post in my garden seats series we will share with you the seats we discovered at the RHS Rosemoor Garden.

Tags Devon, garden furniture, garden seating, garden seats

garden design garden furniture garden photography gardening

Garden Entrances and Archways – No 1 of a very occasional series.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date February 1, 2016
3 Comments on Garden Entrances and Archways – No 1 of a very occasional series.

This will be another occasional series, similar to my “Are you sitting comfortably?”series which has been around for quite a long while now. Here I shall share with you those little features in gardens which entice us to take a particular routeway through a garden, enter a garden room or tempt us to follow a path or open a gate.

These features can be a beautifully crafted arch of metal or wood, perhaps even with a seat included to encourage us to sit and ponder what lays ahead ……………

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….. or simply a path framed by trees or borders to entice you onward …………..

……. or even just a gap between two beautiful apple trees or a narrow pathway to a comfortable seat.

Tags archways, garden arches, garden gates, gardening, gardens, gates

allotments community gardening fruit and veg garden furniture gardening recycling

Trug, trug, trug and trug!

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 29, 2015
2 Comments on Trug, trug, trug and trug!

It is strange how the word trug has come to mean slightly different things over the last decade or so. Until then the word trug referred to the wooden, hand-made garden carriers first made in Sussex and thus called the Sussex Trug.

This post is specially for one of my followers – she will know who she is – but I hope everyone likes it too.

The Sussex Trugs are still made from chestnut and willow, the sweet chestnut being used for the frame and willow for the body. The willow is a by-product of the cricket bat industry and the chestnut comes from coppiced wood.

We use our Sussex Trug in the garden when we harvest fruit from our trees, to hold bulbs ready to be planted and we find them convenient for lots of small jobs. We have been using Sussex Trugs for 20 years or so and we are only on our second one – they last for ages!

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We also have a trug which we use for collecting cut flowers from the garden. This one is made from willow wands. This one has a flat bottom rather than the boat shape of its Sussex cousins so is great for holding our cut flowers as we cut them from the garden. The photo shows it being used to hold Nerine bulbs ready for planting.

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The latest garden carrier to be given the name trug is made from recycled plastic and has proven itself to be one of the most useful pieces of garden equipment to hit the garden centres for years. These are available in lots of colours, sizes and dimensions so have a wide variety of uses around the garden.

We use ours when we are harvesting, pruning in the borders, watering and spreading compost as a mulch on our soil. On our allotment we even used a shallow but wide one to create a small wildlife pond. Every gardener has their own range of uses for the plastic trug.

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Trugs originated in Sussex, where they have been made for two centuries, because there was plenty of coppiced woods with Sweet Chestnut trees and plenty of willows found in marshy areas of the county. The word trug originated from the Anglo-Saxon word trog meaning a wooden vessel or boat-shaped article. They were used as measures or scoops for grain.

So just one more trug to show, the new veg trug. These big wooden raised beds for growing vegetables in are sold by several companies now but they are all virtually the same. The veg trug provides a growing space which is raised to a comfortable working height and allows anyone with the smallest space, even a patio, to grow vegetables and herbs. On our allotment site we have three which we use for our young gardeners to use. The first one we had was planted up by them as a pollinators garden. The other two are recent acquisitions so have yet to be planted by the youngsters of Bowbrook Allotment Community.

We spent a sunny spring day planting up the trug. The children worked with their parents, grandparents and committee members planting up herbaceous perennials and watering them in.

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The children have been looking after their pollinator garden ever since. They particularly enjoyed the watering!

Jude and friend Sherlie made up the two new trugs which arrived flat packed. In the spring the children will plant them up and will then have a trio of trugs to look after.

And here are our two new trugs built by Sherlie and Jude now filled with compost and planted with lots of different bulbs of every possible colour shape and size. Can’t wait until Spring wakes them up!

Tags plastic garden trug, Sussex Trugs, trug, trugs, veg trugs

autumn autumn colours community gardening garden furniture garden seating gardening gardens gardens open to the public hardy perennials light light quality ornamental trees and shrubs shrubs trees

Furzey Gardens – a wonderful gardening community – Part Two

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 13, 2015
3 Comments on Furzey Gardens – a wonderful gardening community – Part Two

Back at Furzey Gardens we continued to wander along its magical paths seeking out secret places and reveling in its beautiful plants. Beyond each corner more beauty was revealed and the depth of its calmness and peace increased. Furzey Gardens takes hold of its visitors and admirers. Throughout the garden volunteers and clients work together, laugh together and learn together. The trust here is set up to help adults with learning difficulties gain new skills, social and horticultural and develop a sense of self esteem and confidence. This results in everyone at Furzey having great pride in what they are doing and a deep level of satisfaction.

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A graceful stand of Birches with the white umbels of Cow Parsley scattered at their feet felt as full of calm and contentment as any place could possibly feel.

The rust colours of autumn trees matched the seeds of Primula close by.

The colours, tints and shades of Autumn can make ordinary places look special but it can also make special places look exceptionally beautiful. Just as we discovered here at Furzey.

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Homes for everything can be found at Furzey. As well as homes for fairies we found homes for hay bales and homes for birds.

The hedges along the edge of the gardens were full of fruit ready for the invasion of winter migrating thrushes and our resident Blackbirds and Thrushes.

Enjoy our wanderings back to the cafe where we refreshed ourselves before journeying back to out hotel.

Among shrubs and trees we discovered a building which hid a secret place for sky viewing.

I thought I would drop in a couple of pics of herbaceous flowers to show that there was a lot more to Furzey than shrubs and trees.

I promised to share with you more of those Fairy and Insect Doors secreted around Furzey.

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Our tour of the gardens at Furzey finished as we explored the 16th Century Forest Cottage, beautifully renovated and re-furnished in simple elegance. It sat in a garden of equal character and an accurate portrayal of its period.

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Tags communal gardens, community, community spirit, Furzey Gardens, garden furniture, Hampshire, ornamental shrubs, ornamental trees, shrubs, trees and shrubs

autumn autumn colours community gardening garden buildings garden design garden furniture garden photography garden ponds garden pools garden seating gardening gardens gardens open to the public light light quality memorials ornamental trees and shrubs trees

Furzey Gardens – a wonderful gardening community – Part One

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 11, 2015
1 Comment on Furzey Gardens – a wonderful gardening community – Part One

Jude, The Undergardener, and I always love visiting community gardens to see what is going on. As we are Chairman and Secretary of a community garden, Bowbrook Allotment Community, we always appreciate everything our fellow community gardeners are achieving.

When in Hampshire we discovered that we were close to Furzey Gardens, run as a charitable trust and a very special community garden indeed, described as “A haven of peace and tranquility in the heart of the New Forest.”

We discovered this 10 acre garden created within woodland around a 16th Century forest cottage. It is a partnership between Furzey Gardens and the Minstead Training Trust. To find out more check out their respective websites, http://www.furzey-gardens.org and http://www.minsteadtt.org .

We arrived at their car park where our progress into the car park was hindered by wandering pigs belonging to local commoners taking advantage of their “rights of pannage”. The signage looked promising. We soon came across a photograph of some of the garden’s volunteers and a shed where produce was sold.

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And once inside we discovered a lovely cafe and gallery run by some of the trust’s volunteers. This was to set the scene for the whole visit.

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The views from the table at which we enjoyed our coffee and cakes were certainly very encouraging. We set off with high expectations!

We noticed within the outside seating area this huge table carved by a local wood sculptor from the trunk of a tree. It was hard to see how this was possible. But possible it was! In the picnic area we found another!

We found more beautiful hand made furniture throughout the gardens.

We soon discovered that this was a garden sporting some beautiful specimen trees and shrubs which in early autumn were performing a colourful show. The volunteers maintained the gardens and individual specimens to a very high standard. Above all a sense of peace pervaded every space and the volunteers we saw working looked full of contentment and displayed a great pride in their work.

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We loved this sign which faced us as we followed our pathway through the garden.

“We love children but we also love plants!

Many of the plants at Furzey are old, rare and fragile.

So please don’t climb our trees or trample on the flowers.

Feel free to hop and skip along the paths

And follow the secret places map.”

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We moved on and the low autumn sunshine lit up the foliage all around like a massive stained glass window.

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We enjoyed having so much choice when it came to sitting resting and taking in the beauty of Furzey. Many benches were memorials of volunteers, clients and visitors who simply enjoyed the special nature of this place.

After a break for tea and yet more cake we set off through the shrubs and trees to find the lake, a lake whose surface was cluttered with water lily leaves and its moist margins decorated by big-leaved plants and umbel seed heads.

Throughout the walkways there were secret places for children to discover, “Fairy Houses” hidden low down and camouflaged.

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We shall find more of these little magic places in part two of our visit to Furzey, but I shall finish this first part by sharing with you one of the many thatched rustic garden buildings scattered throughout the gardens. The use of coloured glass leaves added magical light effects.

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Tags communal gardens, community, community gardening, community spirit, Furzey Gardens, garden sculpture, garden seating, Hampshire

garden design garden furniture garden photography garden seating gardening gardens

Are You Sitting Comfortably? – Part 6 of a very occasional series

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date August 25, 2015
2 Comments on Are You Sitting Comfortably? – Part 6 of a very occasional series

Number six in a very occasional series of posts all about the seats I find in gardens. Use your imagination and have a sit in each and see what you think! I hope you enjoy the view from some – you will have to use your imagination!

A visit to the famous Herefordshire garden, The Laskett, created by the couple Sir Roy Strong and Doctor Julia Trevelyan Oman, provided many unusual garden seats for us to try out and to photograph.

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At the Laskett even the toilet seat is quality!

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We will now look at another C20 garden, the gardens at Preen Manor near Much Wenlock not far from Shrewsbury. This is a garden of many”rooms” and each room seems to have a different style of seat.

On a visit to a Yellow Book NGS garden a good mixture of seats can be found, such as these four at Upper Shelderton Hall gardens.

Another Yellow Book Garden, Dovecote Barn in Herefordshire revealed these two seats, one well placed for a secret rest hiding in the polytunnel and the other a little precarious with a bit of a backward slope to it.

So there is my sixth selection of garden seats – I can now look forward to trying out lots more in my search for the seventh selection!

Tags garden furniture, garden seating, garden seats, gardens

garden design garden furniture garden photography garden seating gardens gardens open to the public

Are you Sitting Comfortably? – Part 5 of a very occasional series

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date April 25, 2015
1 Comment on Are you Sitting Comfortably? – Part 5 of a very occasional series

The time has come once again to share with you the latest collection of photographs of garden seats that we have discovered on our visits. This is the fifth in my very occasional series of posts.

The first selection were all found during our visits to Croft Castle in Herefordshire.

This batch of seats all live in the Bishop’s Garden in the grounds of Wells Cathedral in Somerset.

We remain in the South West of England for our next set. In the grounds of the Painswick Rococo Garden we found traditional garden seats of stone, wood and iron in the main gardens but much more rustic seating in the area set aside as a nature reserve.

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I think I can just squeeze in this little blue job from Dunham Massey in Cheshire.

And that is it for the fifth post in my very occasional series about garden seating. One day in the future number six will appear but who knows when? Perhaps when I have found enough interesting seats to sit on that are worth sharing with you.